Defendant Also Fined $10,000 and Ordered to Pay More Than $98,000 in Restitution

AMARILLO, Texas — Paul Assad Khoury was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to 12 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $98,729 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), following his guilty plea in July 2012 to one count of making a false statement on a tax return, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Robinson ordered that Khoury surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on October 22, 2012.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, Khoury owned and operated two LaBella Pizza restaurants in Amarillo, Texas. Khoury admitted that he did not deposit all of the cash generated by sales at the restaurant into business bank accounts, but instead used a portion of the cash to pay certain employees, to cash other employees’ payroll checks and to purchase goods and services. Khoury also admitted that he took a portion of the cash home and used it to pay for personal expenses.

Khoury admits that he purposefully did not claim this cash income on his tax returns. As a result, according to the factual resume, tax returns for Khoury and his wife, for years 2006, 2007 and 2008 materially under-reported gross business receipts, taxable income and taxes owed for those years.

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Drake was in charge of the prosecution.